Job Discussion Forums

[Never Ceased To Be Amazed]

Ouch!!!

NCTBA

[Incedere]

@ZOOT

There are five high schools for boys, and one girls high school opening next year. At the tertiary level there is the AAIAA (Al Ain International Aviation Academy) the Logistics Academy, VEDC, the Nursing College, and KUSTAR. The tertiary system has been designed to span the educational spectrum from vocational education, to technological education, to academics.

@GREEN ACRES

"Does their housing allowance cover the cost of housing in the area?" Easily, especially in Dubai where rents are crashing spectacularly. It's a renters market, especially in the Dubai Marina. More than a few colleagues of mine have been bouncing offers from one landlord off of another, and are snagging one and two bedrooms for 60,000 to 70,000. Some places are so desperate for tenants that you can find two and three bedroom apartments starting at 50,000.

@MARQUESS

I hope you managed to land a good job somewhere else, because, especially in the current job climate, it's hard to find a job that pays $80,000 US, tax free, with 9 weeks of paid vacation per year.

---

Since what information there is on this thread seems out of date or incorrect, here is an update.

Salary & Accommodation

The salary structure has recently changed. Current salaries were 9,000 to 10,000 basic, plus 11,800 housing (paid monthly, to your bank, combined with the basic salary) for married staff in Dubai. Over the year, that's 141,600 for housing. A bit more than HCT currently offers, and if your rent is less than that amount, you pocket the difference. The housing is about the same for Abu Dhabi but less for the other schools. I am not sure about the exact housing for Al Ain, Ras Al Khaimah, or Fujairah,

The new salary structure is tiered, with annual 4% to 6% performance based increases. The basic salary ranges between 12,000 to 14,000 plus housing. New hires that I have spoken with are getting packages of 25,000 to 26,000. For current staff, the new salary structure comes into effect in September.

Requirements

Aside from the usual (BA, teaching experience, etc) IAT recently mandated two specific requirements for all staff. The first is that all staff must obtain an IELTS score of 6.5 (Academic), or 7.5 for non-native English teachers (Administrative Staff use the BULATS in place of IELTS). The second requirement is that all staff acquire IC3 certification. ICT teachers also require Cisco certification. New hires will have one year to meet these requirements.

Technology

The IAT Director General recently signed an agreement with Apple and Intel (reported in the Gulf News). Currently all teachers are given Dell laptops, and all students in the ICT cluster as well, but starting next year, all teachers and students are supposed to be getting Apple laptops, in addition to training from Apple and Intel.

[Zoot]

Incedere - what's the connection between KUSTAR and IAT? I didn't understand your post at all.

[Incedere]

@ZOOT

KUSTAR is the IAT university. When students graduate from IAT, they have the option of going to KUSTAR, and are encouraged to do so. KUSTAR representatives come on campus, talk to the boys, and do a bit of a recruitment drive.

If IAT students go to KUSTAR, their salary increases to 4000 a month (they get between 1000 to 1250 from grade 10 to grade 12). But KUSTAR is mostly for students who are academic oriented, those who graduated from the Engineering cluster or ICT cluster.

The IAT high schools, and the tertiary institutes (AAIAA, VEDC, Nusing, and Logistics) all form the core organization. KUSTAR is separate in that there is a separate management and budget, but they were all formed at the behest of Shaikh Khalifa, and one member of the KUSTAR board of directors happens to be the Chairman of the IAT board of directors.

The link between the two consists of IAT educating students along certain paths, and funneling them to KUSTAR as much as possible. To that end, the two institutions cooperate and communicate.

[meteacher]

If anyone wants the real truth about IAT, PM me.

[veiledsentiments]

[Incedere]

@METEACHER

Thanks for that. I needed the laugh.

@VEILEDSENTIMENTS

"Wait... students get a salary? How widespread is that?"

Actually, students can receive three salaries.

First, every IAT student is paid a monthly salary. At a normal government school, there is little that teachers can do to compel students to attend class, not cheat, respect teachers, etc. But at IAT the salary is the tool that changes this. The salary was recently increased, so the figure I gave previously was misleading.

Unlike other government schools, IAT students wear a uniform. Violations of the uniform policy (including the grooming requirements) results in salary deductions. They also have a much longer school day - 7:30 to 3:00, as opposed to 8:00 to 1:30, though recent decisions by the Ministry are changing this in government schools.

Students are expected to take personal responsibility for getting to class on time, so there are no bells. This means students are expected to wear a watch, and no, they cannot use a mobile, as mobiles are prohibited for students.

Attendance is taken electronically, by teachers at the start of every lesson, and the principal and vice principal have access to a heads up display in their offices, and track the attendance real time. More than a few times I have marked a student absent, and five or ten minutes later a counselor comes by, pops his head in to confirm the absence, and then makes a call to that student's family. If students hit a ratio of lates/absences of 5%, they receive a large salary deduction, and a warning. When they hit 10%, they are dismissed.

Salary is also used to enforce the behavioral code. Each student has 30 points, and infractions result in a loss of points corresponding to the severity of the infraction. If you can read Arabic, the student handbook explains in detail.

Students are also paid a separate salary for military training. Those who complete the training each year are paid for every session they attended, in addition to being paid for attendance at summer training sessions.

In grade 11, some students earn more through the internship program. Every student has to attend a summer internship, and they work with companies like Adnoc, Nakheel, Dubal, DubCab, Dubai Ports World, Eppco, etc. Some of these companies recompense the students quite generously.

It seemed strange to me at first, students being paid a salary, but it makes sense when you look at it in context with what the government is trying to do in regards to Emiratization. While in most other countries a technological career is normal, there is a real reticence amongst Emiratis to pursue careers that involve physical work. So how do you get them to a) work with their hands, and b) pursue advanced courses of study like engineering mathematics, robotics, hydraulics, etc?

At a normal government school, students can mosey in whenever they want, wear whatever they want, and from March to May spend the day, from 8 to 1:30 outside playing football, and still expect to receive a passing grade. Indeed, those students graduate with an expectation of starting off in a managerial position, or finding a company to sponsor, who will pay them an annual fee. Needless to say, these sorts of graduates add nothing of value to the nation.

The government wants Emiratis to fill positions that up until now have been the exclusive domain of expats. They want Emirati engineers, technicians, mechanics, programmers, network designers, supply chain management specialists, you name it. But those careers require a lot of work, a lot of study, and absent some incentive to draw in young, easily dissuaded Emiratis, it is hard to see how the government can turn that wish into a reality.

Hence the idea to pay students a salary, and to make them approach school not as school, but as work, as their job. I, and most of my colleagues harp on this point every chance we get, telling our students that in the business world, you are on time, you dress appropriately, you behave appropriately. By being paid a salary, they shouldn't see themselves as students, forced to attend school, but as employees, because they consented to be there, and are paid to be there.

If you're at all interested, a few of my colleagues put together a newsletter, and it gives you glimpse of what goes on there.

[bacasper]

[meteacher]

@INCEDERE
You are very welcome....others were also grateful, which is why I have received so many PM's asking for the real truth about this dump that you wish to promote as a good place to work!

We all know that salaries are nowhere near what you are telling people, and how you can tell people that they can get accommodation for 60K per annum is unreal. Everyone knows about the accommodation situation at the moments. On top of that, the OP already stated how much he had been offered and what his quals were - something doesn't quite match up does it!

[bacasper]

meteacher: I wish I could pm.

[meteacher]

Why can't you??? Email Dave!

[Zoot]

Incedare - what's your salary and accommodation package? pm me on those if you like.

Also will you explain this.
The IAT high schools, and the tertiary institutes (AAIAA, VEDC, Nusing, and Logistics) all form the core organization.

What exactly is the core organization?

IAT must have upgraded its student selection if there are any behaviour management policies actually working!!! Also, what flags show up on the principal and deputy principal's 'screens'? Once upon a time any behaviour misdemeanours used to just evaporate into the ether.

[bacasper]

[Incedere]

@ZOOT

IAT is a system, like HCT is a system. The Director General is in charge of the organization, and manages the Directorate. The Directorate manages the five (soon six) high schools, as well as the four tertiary institutes.

IAT was originally established out of HCT, and the original MD, HR staff, principals, and many of the teachers came from HCT. During the first year of operation, the visas of IAT teachers were sponsored by HCT. At that time the military was also heavily involved, especially in regards to the GHQ program, but over the past four years, the military has mostly stepped out of the picture, and the original HR and Admin crew from HCT has been replaced by Emiratis.

"IAT must have upgraded its student selection if there are any behaviour management policies actually working!!! Also, what flags show up on the principal and deputy principal's 'screens'?"

The school is going into it's fifth year of operation. Along the way there have been many changes, as the curriculum, policies, and operational framework have evolved. You can think of the first few years as the period of "storming" where everything seemed in flux. Now is the period of "norming" where things have mostly settled down, and while there is still change, it comes less frequently and is less dramatic.

"what flags show up on the principal and deputy principal's 'screens'"

There are two different things here. I am referring to attendance, which is different from behaviour. Any teacher, counselor, or HR staff member can click on "Reports" and see the up to date list of behavioural reports. Teachers code them according to severity, and the counselors go through that list throughout the day and deal with them accordingly.

Also, when a report is submitted, it does not dissolve into the ether. It stays on the student's permanent record. Report after report gets added, and at some point, when a student is called into the Principal's office, that rap sheet tells the full story. Any teacher can click on a student's name on the system, and see every single late, absence, good or bad thing that any other teacher has said about them. The students know this, and most teachers are happy to turn on the overhead and let misbehaving students watch as a report is entered, and submitted. For students with an iota of sense in them, it works wonders. For the others, who don't quite grasp the implications of the act? Well, there is only so much you can do.

In any event, the display I refer to shows a real time list of attendance. This shows which classes have or have not taken attendance, and the number of lates or absences at that moment.

@METEACHER

"how you can tell people that they can get accommodation for 60K per annum is unreal"

Oh, I dunno...maybe because what I say can be backed up with sources.

As for a prospective teacher being offered 17,000 total package, I can believe that, because the package varies based on marital status. Married teachers get a substantially higher housing allowance. Also, housing differs by emirate, with some getting less than others. Basic salaries range from 7,000 to 10,000, plus housing. The new structure will have basic at 12,000 to 14,000 plus housing. If you are an unmarried teacher in Ras Al Khaimah, then yes, your pay would have been substantially lower than a married teacher in Dubai or Abu Dhabi. That, however, is changing under the new contracts coming into play in September.

When I joined IAT, my total package was 14,400. Six months later it was 14,800. Six months after that it went up to 16,800. A year later it went up to 20,675. In September, according to the new scale, it will go up again, to between 24,000 to 26,000.

What can I say? It's what I get. I support a large family on the one income, and we live very comfortably.

[umzakaria]

Yep,
he's right I was offered a monthly package including accom of 23.5K plus education allowance for kids and other benefits.Darn,I've had to turn it down as hubby is not ready to leave the UK yet...! I don't yet have my MA in hand (nearly finished...) and I have 2 years teaching experience, I am a native English speaker.